Sweden launches probe into costly digital health roll-out failures

Sweden is to investigate the procurement of two major electronic health record systems after complaints from clinical staff that the multimillion-euro platforms have degraded working conditions, increased administrative burdens, and raised concerns over patient safety.

The inquiry targets Oracle’s Millennium and Cambio’s Cosmic systems, which were introduced across multiple Swedish regions to modernise healthcare data management but have instead prompted workflow disruptions, usability failures, and in several cases the suspension or scaling back of rollouts within months of going live.

The move follows mounting pressure on the government after repeated warnings from healthcare professionals that the systems are not fit for purpose. Jakob Forssmed, Sweden’s social affairs minister, was blunt at a 4 May press conference. “In today’s data-intensive healthcare sector, patient record systems simply have to work,” he said, adding that no region had yet reported meaningful…